Anti-Aging and Eating Foods High in Anti-Oxidants

Healthy, anti-oxidant rich, anti-aging foods can enhance your health, energy, mental fitness and slow many of the signs and changes of aging.

Many consumers have been taught that low-fats foods, such as lean meat, dairy products, yogurt and vegetables are the best foods to keep you healthy and prevent aging and skin wrinkles. But scientist now tell us that simply eating some salad or vegetables every now and then won’t do much. To understand which foods are the best and why, you need to understand how free radicals affect your skin health and increase the aging process.

Most longevity experts say that free radicals are the main cause of aging. Free radicals are oxygen molecules that have an ‘extra’ or free electron. This free electron makes the molecule unstable. It seeks another molecule so they can become stable. When the free radical bonds to another molecule it causes proteins and other essential molecules to not function as they should.  This reactive process sets up a chain reaction of which damages the body’s cells.

Recently, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the USDA created a new food classification system that rates the antioxidant content of various food. This list is called ORAC, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

A quote from the ORAC report reads, “The development of various chronic and degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and neuronal degeneration such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease may be attributed, in part, to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has also been implicated in the process of aging. Although the human body has developed a number of systems to eliminate free radicals such as reactive oxygen species from the body, it is not 100% efficient.”

It is believed that the anti-oxidants found in certain foods can protect the body from the damage caused by these free radicals. High ORAC ratings means the food has high anti-oxidant potential and thus rates as a good Anti-aging food.

Here are some highlights from the USDA ORAC list:

Release 1 – November 2007. Values were reported for 277 food items.  Release 2 – May 2010. Values were added for 49 food items, including maple syrup, acai, and goji berries, for a total of 326 food items.

Cinnamon: 100 grams of ground cinnamon has a rating of 267,536, making it extremely high on the anti-aging and free-radical-blocking scale. This is why many longevity experts suggest sprinkling some cinnamon on your food or hot drinks.

BEANS: A half cup (dried beans) of small Red Beans has a score of 13727 , Red kidney beans 13259 , Pinto beans11864 and Black beans 4181.

FRUITS: Each ORAC number is for 1 cup. Wild blueberry1 13427; Cultivated blueberry 9019; Cranberry 8983,Blackberry 7701, Prunes (½ cup )7291 ; Raspberry 6058; Strawberry 5938; Red Delicious apple I whole) 5900 ; Granny Smith apple 5381 ; Sweet cherries (1 cup) 4873; Black plum 1 plum 4844 ; other plums have 4118 each and a Gala apple has a rating of 3903.

Artichoke hearts 1 cup, cooked ranked in at 7904. An ounce of Pecans scored 5095 and a single Russet potato cooked came in at 4649.

This list presupposes that the fruits and vegetables are fresh and that they pesticide free. Naturally organic foods and skincare choices  like anti-aging masks are best since organic foods and natural skin treatments have no toxic chemicals.

So, if you are concerned with aging skin and are interested in longevity, ensure that the food you put in your body does not have toxic chemicals and are high on the anti-oxidant list.

You can obtain the FDA complete ORAC listing at The FDA ORAC scale here:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=15866

Anti-Oxidants And Sun Damaged Skin

Sun damage or photo damage produces both skin cancers as well as photo-aging. Photo-aging shows itself on the skin as wrinkling, scaling, dryness, and mottled pigmentation. Ultra-violet light is absorbed by skin, which in turn produces a photo-chemical reaction.

The UVA light is absorbed by both DNA as well as urocanic acid, the photo-chemical reaction produces oxidation of both DNA, nucleide acid, and protein, as well as lipids, this is known as oxidative damage. Anti-oxidants have been evolved to protect against, and reverse some of the damage produced by sunlight. An anti-oxidant mechanism is very advanced in plants that protect against the damage from sun exposure.

Oxidation:

Oxidation is produced by reactive oxygen molecules. The DNA absorbs ultra-violet light mostly in the UVB (290-320 manometres) range. This produces damage mainly within the epidermis. UVA (320-400 manometres) penetrates deeper into the skin and produces damage in the epidermis, the dermis as well as affecting blood vessels. The UVA has a much more oxidizing effect on cells.

The carcinogenic or cancer forming effects of ultra-violet B produce mutations within the DNA. This initiates tumours within the epidermis. The UVA promotes these tumours as it has much more oxidizing stress on the skin than UVB. It may as a result be more cytotoxic and immunosuppressive.

Sunscreens:

Sunscreens certainly protect against ultra-violet light, the sunburning spectrum is UVB and sunscreens are very effective. Ultra-violet A is the most difficult to protect against. It is important to realize that the SPF numbers are calculated with an amount of sunscreen on skin that exceeds what most of us put on our own skin.

The SPF is calculated with a quantity of 2mg. of sunscreen per centimetre2. Most people will put on about half to one quarter of this when used as sun protection. Unfortunately, low quantities of sunscreen of per centimtre2 will have minimal sun protective effects. Usually if 5mg. per cm.2 of sunscreen is applied to the skin, the sun protective factor is in the region of an SPF of 3.

Anti-Oxidants:

Anti-oxidants play a significant part in the protective and repair mechanisms within animals and plants. This can be achieved by anti-oxidants that are produced within the skin itself or by those consumed or applied from plants. The anti-oxidant effects can be divided into those that have their protection through enzymes, and those that tend to reduce the quantity of hydrogen peroxide as well as lipid hydroperoxides.

Topical Anti-Oxidants:

The use of topical anti-oxidants has certain requirements, these have to be stable as well as being cosmetically acceptable. It is clear that anti-oxidants have a photo-protective benefit. The physiological anti-oxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, and ubiquinol. Vitamin C is water-soluble and is a free radical scavenger, it is required for collagen synthesis and may inhibit elastin formation in the dermis.

It may also reduce pigment synthesis, as well as enhance epidermal barrier function. For it to be active it must be present on the skin at a pH of 3.5 or lower in order to have an anti-oxidative effect. Vitamin E is different from vitamin C, in that it is lipid soluble, there is evidence that combining vitamin E and vitamin C may be of some benefit. Other anti-oxidants to be considered will be selenium as well as zinc.

Plant Anti-Oxidants:

Plants synthesize vitamin C, vitamin E and flavones, and polyphenolic compounds.

• Silymarin
• Soy isoflavones
• Tea
• Polyphenols

These are all potent plant anti-oxidants.

Silymarin:

This is a Milk Thistle extract, the main component in terms of anti-oxidants is silybyn. This prevents lipid peroxidase action. It also has been shown to inhibit tumour promotion in animals.

Soy isoflavones:

Soy has been connected with a reduction in cardiovascular disease, and in some incidents’ of breast cancer when taken by mouth in large quantities. It has a phytoestrogen effect, which can reduce menopausal symptoms. The isoflavones are genistein and gaidzein. The genistein has a collagen synthesis effect. It is also anti-cancer. It has been used both orally as well as topically.

The genistein is a powerful scavenger of peroxyl radicals. This has a significant reduction in lipid peroxidase activity. It has been shown to reduce redness in the skin of mice which are subject to ultra-violet A. It also has an anti-inflammatory effect. The use of this compound reduces the immune suppression effect of ultra-violet light.

Tea polyphenols:

Tea is fermented initially to green, and then to black tea. The drinking of black tea has been shown to reduce the frequency of squamous cell carcinomas. Work done with green tea both topically and taken orally, shows that it reduces the ability of ultra-violet to produce skin cancers and redness, particularly in animals. The possibility of combining tea, plus vitamin E, to work together as anti-oxidants is interesting.

Much more work needs to be done in order to establish how combining anti-oxidants with sunscreens will have a very beneficial effect on reducing sun damage to skin.